


Hope

by Treekianthia



Series: Bravely Babies [4]
Category: Bravely Default (Video Game) & Related Fandoms
Genre: Alternate Universe - Post-Canon, Bravely Second Spoilers, F/M, Family, Family Bonding, Gen, Illnesses
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-08
Updated: 2018-06-08
Packaged: 2019-05-19 18:49:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,076
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14879264
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Treekianthia/pseuds/Treekianthia
Summary: When her only son falls deathly ill, Agnès’ only hope for his survival lies in the crystals. As she continuously prays to them without success though, she feels what hope she has left slipping away… (Fic Archive: 11/24/16)





	Hope

**Author's Note:**

> The following fic was originally posted to outside sources on 11/24/16. It is being posted here for archival purposes and to help document my progress as a writer. It is also part of a post-canon AU referred to as the Bravely Babies, and more info on the children characters and the AU itself can be found on my tumblr blog woodland-knight.

“Please… Give my son more time…”

Agnès was kneeling down next to her son’s bed with her hands clasped in prayer. It had been three days since her seven-year-old son had fallen ill, and with each passing day he continuously showed no signs of recovery. His cheeks were flushed red from his fever, and what few breaths he could take were raspy and faint. He was sweating through blanket after blanket, but despite being so warm he continued to only shiver. He was also in such a deep sleep, it felt as if his last bits of life were fading away right in front of Agnès’ eyes.

A few days prior, Agnès had been sick herself, but it had been with a far less severe illness. Both she and her four daughters had all caught an illness that had been going around their small village, but while the quadruplets had only been coughing and sniffling, Agnès was left bedridden due to aches and pains. Both she and Tiz knew she’d make a full recovery once she obtained the proper medicine, but they were going to have to wait for the rain to clear before Tiz could pick it up from Norende’s market. Their son, however, had somehow come under the impression his mother wouldn’t survive until then and managed to sneak out to retrieve the medicine on his own instead. Even though he had miraculously been successful in doing so, as soon as his father found him wandering back home, it was obvious something was wrong. Within minutes of being brought back into the house, Theo had collapsed and his temperature spiked, causing Tiz to run back out in order to get a doctor.

When the doctor arrived and examined Theo, she gave Tiz and Agnès devastating news. Theo had managed to catch a disease far different than the one going around, and if he didn’t get proper treatment within the week, there was a low chance he would survive. To make matters worse, the medicine for the illness would have to be flown in from Eternia, and no airship would be able to fly safely through this weather. Tiz and Agnès refused to let their son die though, so Tiz tried to find the quickest way he could to contact Edea to see if she could help them. Meanwhile, Agnès was left to care for Theo, and as she watched him rapidly get worse, she found herself taking more time to pray.

“Oh crystals of wind, water, fire, and earth, to which I have devoted my life to. In my time of sorrow and fear, I ask you to hear my voice and answer my prayers. Please, deliver upon my son a miracle that will save his life….”  Agnès muttered under her breath as her eyes squeezed shut. Her lip quivered slightly, but she tried her best to hold back any tears. She had spent so much time over the past few days crying, she didn’t think she could cry anymore. She took a deep breath to keep herself calm and kept her eyes shut, but before she could begin a second prayer, she was startled by a soft clicking sound. Opening her eyes and turning around, she could see Tiz standing in front of the now closed bedroom door.

“How is he?” Tiz asked as he walked over and sat down next to Agnès. His hair was a bit damp, no doubt from going out in the rain, and he seemed tired. She figured it was from having to walk all the way to Caldisla and back again in the harsh weather, and she hoped he hadn’t exhausted himself. She didn’t need him getting sick too. Grabbing onto his arm, Agnès leaned against him and put her head on his shoulder.

“Not good… His fever still isn’t going down, and he can’t stay awake for more than ten minutes at a time. It’s been over an hour since he was last awake too,” she explained with a shaky voice. She was trying her best to be hopeful, but it was getting difficult. Using his free hand, Tiz brushed his thumb across Agnès’ cheek.

“It’s going to be okay, Agnès. I promise,” Tiz tried to assure her with a gentle voice. It was obvious to her that he was just as upset as she was, but he seemed to be trying his best to stay strong for her. She squeezed his arm tighter and tried to stay calm.

“I just finished praying to the crystals again,” she told him as she turned her attention back to their son. She watched as his blanket slowly moved up and down, and she could tell just how hard it was getting for him to breathe. “I’m hoping that they hear me this time, or else I don’t know what I’m going to do,” she finished saying. She could feel Tiz shift as he tried to stretch his legs out a bit.

“Even if the crystals don’t respond to you, we at least got a response from somebody else,” Tiz mentioned with a bit of hope. Feeling a bit hopeful herself, Agnès perked up a bit and turned her head to look at Tiz again.

“Does that mean Edea responded?” she asked as she let go of his arm. “Is she sending somebody here? Are they bringing the medicine with them? Please tell me that help is on the way!”

Much to Agnès’ relief, Tiz nodded his head. “She said Ringabel is bringing what medicine he can, and that he’ll fly us back to the White Magic Hospital once Theo is a bit more stable. According to her, he was the only one crazy enough to even attempt to fly through these storms,” Tiz explained to her. “Apparently, he once managed to fly through a nasty blizzard just to get Edea some sweets from Gathelatio when she was pregnant with the twins. I mean, she then said she told him off for a week for taking the risk, but he said he was willing as long as she was happy.”

Agnès let out a deep sigh before placing her hand on top of Tiz’s. “Then I’m sure these storms will be nothing for him then… I’m just glad we were able to get a response so quickly,” Agnès mentioned as she reached over with her other hand to adjust her son’s blanket. _Still breathing…_  Hopefully that didn’t change any time soon. Tiz, meanwhile, used his free hand to grab a wet rag out of a bowl on Theo’s nightstand and used it to wipe the sweat off Theo’s forehead.

“Egil wasn’t lying when he said the Caldisian Knights had a quick delivery system. I’m still in shock they managed to get our message to Edea and bring one back in only three days!” Tiz admitted before placing the rag back in the bowl. Both he and Agnès saw Theo move a moment later, but he didn’t seem to be waking up. Agnès felt herself tense up.

“We’ll owe a lot to Egil for helping us once Theo is better,” Agnès said in attempts to stay positive, though it was still fairly difficult. In attempts to distract herself, she tried to change the subject. “How is Egil and his family, by the way? You mentioned his little boy was sick too last time you visited. Is he getting any better?”

Leaning back a bit, Tiz gave another nod. “Owen has mostly recovered by now. Apparently, his mother sacrificed a lot of sleep to take care of him, and she looked pretty exhausted when I went to retrieve the letter. Egil was doing pretty good last time I checked too, but he was with the Queen when I went this time. Oh, and between Owen’s illness and Egil still having to work, poor Karl has been left to run the inn without any assistance, but he didn’t seem bothered by it. He said it reminded him of ‘the good old days’ when his own Owen would have to run off to train instead of help out around the inn”, Tiz told Agnès, who ended up laughing a bit.

“Well I’m glad little Owen is recovering and Karl is enjoying himself. but it still amuses me how much Egil followed in your footsteps,” Agnès teased. She was still tense, but laughing had managed to loosen her up a bit. Glad to have her laughing, Tiz smiled at her.

“Well, I like to think I’m a good influence on him,” Tiz said with a bit of pride. “There’s nothing wrong with being an honest, hard worker who wants to help out his people! He tries his best, does everything he needs to, and still manages to make time for his family despite it all!”

Laughing again, Agnès poked Tiz’s cheek. “You seemed to have forgotten the part about how both of your wives are also former Vestals. I don’t think Egil would have even asked her out on a date if he hadn’t witnessed you romancing me all those years ago,” Agnès continued to tease. Tiz was taken aback slightly by the comment, but he couldn’t deny it.

“Okay, that’s true… But also take into account the only reason they met in the first place was because Egil just happened to be here the same day she was getting advice from  _you_ ,” Tiz pointed out while continuing to smile. “You unknowingly played a role in all of this too!”

Agnès, fully aware of how she had influenced things, smiled back. “While it is indeed true that she came to ask me for advice, anything that happened after wasn’t my fault,” Agnès said in complete confidence. Tiz laughed a bit before changing his smile into a cheesy grin.

“And how am I supposed to be so certain you didn’t try to set them up? The Orthodoxy better be more careful, or the former pope is going to start playing matchmaker with all the Vestals!” Tiz joked before letting out a loud laugh. Agnès shook her head but continued smiling, knowing she had the perfect response.

“If the crystals will it, then it will happen, Tiz. Our girls, Egil having a child early in his adulthood, and so many other things all happened because the crystals willed it,” she told him with the same confidence as before. Tiz, however, looked away and began to frown.

“You keep saying that, Agnès…” Tiz muttered with a saddened voice. It was bringing Agnès back to the reality of the situation they were in, and she felt terrible for joking during such a serious time. She gave Tiz a worried look.

“What do you mean by that, Tiz? Is something wrong?” she asked to get a bit more clarification on what he had said. Sighing, Tiz looked to Theo, who had gone back to shivering despite the fact he had a woolen blanket to keep him warm.

“‘The will of the crystals’… You keep saying that things keep happening because the crystals want them to…” Tiz explained as continued to watch Theo. Agnès could see the facade Tiz had been keeping up for her was breaking, and he looked absolutely miserable.

“You don’t… You don’t think I believe Theo’s illness is a result of the Crystals’ will.. D-do you?” Agnès asked with a pained voice. Though she had been fighting back tears for most of this time, the thought of Tiz thinking such a thing caused them to well back up. Tiz, however, gently wrapped his arm around Agnès and held her close.

“I would never expect you to think such a terrible thing, Agnès…” he assured her while placing his forehead against hers. “I just… I’m scared, Agnès… I’m scared that the Crystals won’t hear your prayers, and that we’ll lose our son… I want to believe the Crystals will help and that they can make him better! You believe in them so much that I  _want_  to believe too! …I just…”

Looking Tiz in the eyes, Agnès tried her best to keep having hope. “We have to believe, Tiz… The crystals would never cause the death of a child, no matter what may come of it… They will hear me, and they will help him… I promise you,” she tried her best to assure him, but deep down, she wasn’t sure if she could believe it herself. It had been three days since she had began her prayers, but nothing was coming from it. It felt as if the crystals had just turned a blind eye to her, Tiz, and their son.

Before Tiz could say anything more, both he and Agnès were in full tears. They knew they were both feeling the same thing, so there was no use in trying to talk about. Their son was dying, and their only hope lied in a miracle that may not even occur. It was painful, and there was no comfort to be found, even when they were with each other. Neither of them knew how much longer they could let their son suffer, but they didn’t want to let go of the last sliver of hope that they had left.

“Mammi… Pappi… Aurora wet bed… Bad…”

Surprised by the sudden voice, Tiz and Agnès turned their heads to see one of their little girls standing in the doorway. Agnès had put them all down for a nap when Tiz had gone out earlier, but it seemed at least one of them was awake now. She was rubbing her eyes and yawning, and she looked about ready to fall back asleep. Looking behind her, Tiz and Agnès could just barely see the other three girls standing in the hall; two of them were just as sleepy as the one in the doorway, but the third one was sniffling. They both assumed the sniffling one must have been Aurora.

Letting go of Agnès, Tiz walked over to the girls and picked Aurora up. “Sssh, it’s going to be alright, Aurora. Accidents happen. You just need to make sure you go to the bathroom before you go to sleep next time,” he told her as he bounced her in his arms. “I’ll make sure you four get baths and clean up the sheets right away so you girls can go back to sleep.”

A second later, another one of the girls tugged on Tiz’s pants. “Pappi, Theo okay?” she asked while looking up at her father. Agnès felt her heart sink, and she didn’t know if either Tiz or herself could stomach telling the girls the truth. The thought was too painful to think about, and both of them still wanted to have hope.

“Theo is going to be just fine,” Agnès told the girls before Tiz could say anything. She didn’t like having to lie, but she felt she had no other choice. She didn’t want her daughters knowing their brother might not live long enough for help to arrive, and she was trying her best to stay strong for them. It didn’t feel like it was working though, as a few more tears still managed to fall. As she wiped them off her cheek, the last of the non-crying girls managed to stumble her way over.

“No sad, Mammi…” the girl told her mother. She held up her tiny hand in front of Agnès before placing it on Agnès’ cheek. “Theo okay! No sad, Mammi!”

Tearing up again, Agnès hugged her daughter tightly. Agnès didn’t know what else she could say, but in an instant the other two girls on the ground waddled over and hugged their mother as well. Knowing he should join in, Tiz walked over and put the last girl down before both of them joined the family hug. Both Agnès and Tiz were in tears again, yet the four girls continued to hold onto their parents lovingly. With how much noise they were making, it was a surprise Theo hadn’t woken back up.

“L-let’s go take care of your sheets and get you baths,” Tiz told the girls as he wiped away his tears. “Your mother will keep an eye on your brother while we’re gone.”

“Come back later?” two of the girls asked while the other two yawned. Agnès could tell they were just as worried about their brother as she and Tiz were, even if they were too young to comprehend things. She wondered if they’d even remember this when they were older.

“Once you four have finished taking your naps, you can come see your brother again,” she promised them. “You four also need to behave while your father gives you your baths, especially because Aurora probably needs it. Do you understand?”

The girls gave a simple “Yes, Mammi!” as they nodded their heads, and a moment later Tiz took them out of the room. After they were gone, Agnès took the time to wipe Theo’s forehead with the rag once more, and she noticed him move a bit while she did so. She thought that perhaps he was dreaming, and that there was something in it causing him to shift. With how bad his fever was though, it was more than likely a nightmare. Finishing with the rag, Agnès placed it back in the bowl and sat in silence.

Time slowly passed as Agnès sat alone, and the deafening quiet was too much for her to handle. She wanted to pray, but she was still shaken by what Tiz had said earlier. She wanted to believe the crystals could help, wanted to have hope,  _but if they hadn’t answered her prayers yet, what was the chance they ever would?_  She had put so much faith into them as a Vestal, and now they gave her nothing in return.  _Maybe all of this was the will of the crystals after all…_

_But you still have to try… Pray… Pray for more time…_

Unsure of herself, Agnès clasped her hands together once again and closed her eyes. “Oh crystals of wind, water, fire, and earth… I ask of you just one more time.. Please… Oh, please… Give my son the time he needs to survive,” she prayed as she squeezed her hands together. For a moment, she thought she felt something, but whatever it was quickly disappeared.

_Don’t give up… Once more… Do it once more for him…_

“Oh holy lights that have shaped our world, please answer my desperate cries! My son cannot stay alive on his own much longer, so I beg of you! Deliver upon me a miracle! Save my son’s life!” she cried out. Her voice had cracked a bit, and she hoped she hadn’t been too loud. Opening her eyes again, she took a look at her son, who still seemed as sick and frail as before. Seeing him still like this… She felt a wave of sorrow pass over her, and it felt as if she had lost her final glimmer of hope.

_Please…_

Agnès returned to sitting in silence and stayed there for what felt like an eternity. Every once in awhile she could hear Tiz and the girls, and at some point it sounded like he had put them back to bed. She listened as he walked up and down the hall, no doubt taking care of the soiled sheets, and quietly waited for his return. Theo, meanwhile, only continued to sleep and still showed no sign of waking up. Agnès wondered if he ever would.

Eventually, Tiz returned to the room and sat back down next to Agnès. He smelled a bit like soap, and she noticed he had changed clothes. She figured he had gotten his last pair wet when washing the girls, but it really didn’t matter. She leaned up against him once again, and he took one of her hands in his. Her hand was shaking.

“Are you alright, Agnès? Your hand won’t stop shaking,” he pointed out to her, but she chose not to say anything in response. She was tired after everything they had been through, and she felt she had run out of energy. After taking so much time to pray and care for Theo, and to have so many of her emotions fluctuating, it had exhausted her. Tiz seemed to understand though, as he let her use him as a pillow once she closed her eyes.

_He’s okay now… They heard you… He’s okay…_

Agnès was still half asleep when she heard the chime of the clock from out in the hall. Tiz seemed to have dozed as well, as he was startled awake by the same chime. Though Tiz hadn’t meant to nod off, it had probably been for the same reasons as Agnès. Forcing herself awake, Agnès quickly leaned over to check if Theo was okay.

“He’s still breathing…” she told Tiz as she sat back down. Tiz was still trying to wake himself up, but he managed to nod his head before yawning.

“That’s all we can ask for right now… As long as he’s still breathing, his heart is still beating, which means he’s still with us,” Tiz reassured her before stretching his arms out. Agnès started to wonder what time it was, and she hoped they wouldn’t be left waiting for Ringabel much longer.

“I’m just glad he’s made it this far… I would have never forgiven myself if something had happened while we were asleep,” Agnès told Tiz, and she quickly shook her head to get any thoughts of what could have happened out of her mind. She had to stay positive, and thoughts like that wouldn’t help her do that.

“It’s kind of odd I dozed though… One minute I was wide awake, and the next thing I know I’m getting woken up by that old clock…” Tiz mentioned as he scratched the back of his head. “I’m a bit surprised it didn’t wake Theo up too.”

Agnès sadly nodded her head. “I don’t know if anything other than the medicine can wake him up at this point… He’s been asleep for so long, it’s almost as if he doesn’t want to wake up…” she said as she looked at her son. Despite looking so frail, he also seemed to look as if he were at peace.

“It’s… It’s my fault he’s like this. I should have kept a better eye on him! If I had been watching him more closely, he wouldn’t have been able to sneak out!” Tiz cried out as quietly as he could in order to not wake the girls. He was tense and upset, and Agnès hated seeing him this way.

“Tiz, Tiz it isn’t your fault… You had your hands full with both me and the quads, and you were exhausted! Please Tiz, please don’t blame yourself for this… He’s going to be okay… You have to have hope, Tiz. Have hope…” she begged him, even though she had lost all the hope she had herself. If Tiz could managed to hold on to just enough, perhaps she’d be able to feel some again too.

_Hope… Hope… There’s still hope…_

A moment later, the two of them heard a soft mumbling noise from Theo’s bed. Looking over, they could see his face was starting to twitch. He was squeezing his eyes shut, as if he were trying to keep sun out of them, and his head moved as if he were desperately trying to stay asleep. A second later, he slowly began to open his eyes and let out a big yawn. He looked as if Tiz had just woken him up to go out and help with the sheep.

“Mommy? Daddy?” he sleepily asked as he tried to sit up. Feeling a sudden wave of relief, Tiz straightened up to look at his now conscious son, and Agnès moved closer to make sure Theo didn’t hurt himself when moving.

“Y-yes, we’re here, Theo!” Agnès told him as she took his hands. The little boy looked tired and weak, but he was still able to let out another big yawn.

“My head and chest hurt…” Theo whined as he looked at his mother. His cheeks were still red, and his breathing continued to sound raspy. Assuming it was the fever’s doing, Tiz reached over and put his hand on Theo’s forehead to see if it had spiked again. To his surprise though, that didn’t seem to be the case.

“His… His fever is going down, Agnès! It’s going down!” Tiz told Agnès in absolute shock. Agnès, in disbelief, moved Tiz’s hand so she could check Theo’s temperature herself. When she felt that his fever had indeed gone down, she let out a gasp.

“Th-they heard me… The crystals heard me, Tiz!” Agnès exclaimed as she began to tear up again. This time, however, they were tears of joy instead of sorrow, and she welcomed them. Theo, meanwhile, rubbed his eyes and tried to snuggle up to his mother.

“They told me to tell you not to worry anymore,” Theo suddenly mentioned to his parents. Neither Tiz or Agnès knew who “they” were, but after everything that happened, Agnès felt she had a good idea of who- or what- it could have been.

“They? Do you mean the crystals, Theo?” Agnès asked, thinking that her prayers had finally been answered. Much to her surprise though, Theo shook his head in response.

“No, not those things. It was the nice man and woman in my dreams that told me… They never told me their names, but they talked to me a lot,” Theo explained before sniffling a bit. Not sure what to make of the statement, Agnès looked to Tiz, who just shrugged in confusion. Both of them knew there was something odd about what Theo had said though, but they couldn’t really explain it.

“What exactly did “they” tell you, Theo?” Tiz asked in hopes of figuring out what was going on. Theo sat quietly for a moment with a look of concentration on his face, and his parents assumed it was because he was trying to remember everything he had apparently heard.

“They told me ‘Be a good boy and don’t make your parents worry anymore. They already worry a lot, and they don’t need another thing on their plate. Then tell them everything is going to be okay and that you’re going to grow up, get married, and have a family of your own. You’ll even get to have adventures of your own one day. We’ll make sure of it’,” Theo recalled while trying to make his voice sound deeper. For a moment, Agnès thought that perhaps Theo’s fever had caused him to dream up strange things, but what he had told them was oddly specific. Despite it, she couldn’t think of any other logical explanation for what he had heard.

“Well, we’re glad you had somebody to talk to while sleeping, and we’re even more glad that you’re awake. Now that you are though, you’d probably like to know that Mr. Lee is on his way here to pick you up and take you to Eternia,” Agnès informed her son. “He’s going to take you to the White Magic Hospital so you can finish getting better.”

Theo nodded his head in response. “They told me about that too. They also said I need to tell Mr. and Mrs. Lee thank you for helping out and that I should talk to them more often,” Theo admitted, much to Tiz and Agnès’ surprise. Whoever Theo was hearing, they definitely must have had some tremendous abilities if they were able to know so much. Curious about something, Tiz tried to get a bit more info on the mysterious voices.

“Did they say anything else? Please think hard about this, Theo. Your mother and I need to know,” Tiz told his son. Theo scrunched his face up in concentration once more, and he seemed to be trying his best to remember any detail he could have forgotten.

“…they told me to eat my vegetables,” Theo said before sticking his tongue out in disgust. Agnès quickly looked at Tiz, who looked back, and the two believed they were starting to understand who it was that had spoken with their son.

“It can’t be… Can it?” Agnès asked in astonishment. She hadn’t thought of this possibility, but… Did  _they_  really talk to Theo? Tiz was just as surprised as she was, and he definitely seemed to be having a hard time getting his head around it.

“It’s possible, but… I would have never have thought…Was he really that close…?” Tiz muttered under his breath. Whether or not what they thought was true though, a miracle had occurred and their son was on the road to recovery.

“Daddy, my head still hurts… Can I have a glass of water?” Theo asked before coughing. He didn’t seem that interested in what his parents were talking about, but it didn’t really come to a surprise to them. He was still probably too sick to focus on much.

“Of course, Theo! I’ll get you one right away!” Tiz said as he quickly got to his feet. Within an instant, he was out of the room and Agnès was left to cool Theo down with the wet rag once again.

“…mommy, can I ask you something?” Theo asked as Agnès wiped away the sweat on his forehead. There wasn’t as much with his fever going down, but there was still enough it needed to be wiped off.

“You can ask me anything, Theo. As long as it’s reasonable, of course” Agnès assured him before placing the rag back in the water and wringing it out. A bit anxious, Theo looked down at his hands and wiggled his fingers a bit.

“Before I woke up, they said ‘you’re just like your daddy now’… What did they mean by that? Aren’t I already like daddy?” Theo continued to ask before squirming in discomfort. Agnès had placed the cold rag on the back of his neck, and it had caught him off guard.

“Well… That could mean a lot of things,” Agnès began to explain while thinking. “There’s a lot of special things about your father, and then there’s still some things that not even I know. Though I already think you two are as alike as you can be,” she concluded before kissing Theo’s forehead. “Either way though, you’re still our little boy.”

Theo blinked a few times and nodded his head again. “You know I like being here with you, daddy, and my little sisters, right? You make me happy!” Theo told his mother while hugging her. Though she hadn’t been expecting it, Agnès still smiled and returned the hug.

“You make us happy too, Theo… That’s why we were so worried about you. You’re really sick Theo, you know that, right?” Agnès asked as she brushed her son’s hair back. He was looking a little less frail now with the fever going down, but it was still obvious he was very sick despite it.

“Uh-huh… The nice man and lady said that if I got any worse, I wouldn’t be living with you guys anymore. They didn’t want that to happen, and neither did I, so they helped me stay!” Theo explained to his mother. He was exerting himself a bit too much now, and it didn’t seem like he had the energy to sit up anymore, so Agnès took the rag off his neck and gently laid him back down.

“If at any point they talk to you again, tell them thank you for us, okay?” Agnès requested. It still came as a shock to her that such old friends would still be around to help, but she was grateful to them nonetheless. She wondered if by some miracle, it had been the crystals who had summoned them to talk to Theo, but perhaps it was an even greater power at play. No matter what though, she wished there could have been some way for her to give them something in return.

“I will, mommy,” Theo promised before yawning once more. “Is daddy coming back yet? I’m really thirsty, and my throat is really dry…”

“Sorry, sorry, there was a bit of a distraction…” Tiz suddenly said as he walked in with Theo’s water. Looking over, Agnès could see two of the girls clinging to Tiz’s legs as he walked in, while the other two followed behind him. It seemed they had woken up yet again, though it was probably around time for their nap to be over anyway. Carefully, Tiz went over and helped Theo lift his head up just enough so he could drink his water.

“Theo okay! Theo okay!” the four girls chimed in unison as they tried to get onto their brother’s bed. Worried they might get sick if they got too close, Agnès pulled them all down before they could touch their brother.

“Theo still needs a little bit of time in Eternia to fully be better, but it’ll be a bit longer before he can go. Until then, you four need to stay away from him so you don’t get sick too. You’re all still very little, so it wouldn’t be any good if you girls got sick again with something like this,” she warned them as she wrapped all of them in her arms. The girls struggled a bit, but gave up when they realized their mother wasn’t letting go.

“Okay, mammi… No touch Theo!” one of the quads, whom Agnès assumed was Pyra, said as she sat down instead. The other three did the same, and Tiz looked over at them after putting Theo’s glass of water down.

“It’ll probably be a good idea to get the girls checked out too while we’re there, just so we know they don’t get sick again,” Tiz recommended. Agnès nodded her head in agreement, knowing that was indeed their best course of action. They didn’t need to worry about their daughters getting sick with something more serious, especially since they had just recovered from something else, and it would be good for them to get a clean bill of health.

“How much longer do you think it will be?” Agnès asked Tiz as she looked at a small clock that was placed on Theo’s nightstand. It was about mid-afternoon, but she would have never have guessed it with how dark it was. She figured it would still take another day for Ringabel to get there, but Tiz seemed to have other ideas.

“Knowing Ringabel… He probably ignored all safety standards to get to Caldis in a day, and with the hike up here… We can probably expect him before nightfall,” Tiz guessed as he looked at the window. Looking as well, Agnès could see the rain was still falling, but that probably wasn’t enough to stop Ringabel. Perhaps Tiz was right and they could be seeing Ringabel sooner than she expected.

“What are we gonna do until Mr. Lee gets here?” Theo asked before sneezing. Trying to think of something, Agnès grabbed a tissue and reached over to wipe his nose. She could hear the girls chanting underneath her as she did so.

“Story! Story!” they said while clapping their hands together. When Agnès finished with Theo, she sat back down and looked at Tiz, who seemed to be thinking.

“Well Tiz, it seems the girls have decided. What type of story do you think we should tell?” she asked Tiz in attempts to narrow it down. The girls seemed to have their own ideas though, as she heard each and every one of them ask for something different. She figured with how many story Tiz knew though, there would at least be one that would satisfy all of them.

“Well, there’s hundreds of stories I could choose from, but I’m not sure which one to choose, so… How about you tell the story, Agnès?” Tiz asked while furrowing his brow. He still seemed to be trying to think, but Agnès felt she had the perfect story.

“I know exactly what to tell them,” she told her husband with a smile.  _Something happy, but sad, with a bit of romance, and full of hope…_  Straightening up to look at her five children, Agnès began to tell her story.

“Once upon a time, there was an intelligent man named Altair, and a beautiful woman named Vega…”

**Author's Note:**

> This was another one of the birthday fics I wrote, and I remember spending quite a bit of time on it in order for it to come to not come out rushed. Even nowadays, there isn't much I'd really change with it other than a few grammar changes and some updates in wording and spelling. I like to think it's pretty good as is, even if it's nowhere near the best I can do nowadays.


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